La Gesse Column: It’s up to the offense, again

It’s another Big 12 football game. It’s another Saturday where the Iowa State football team must turn to its offense.

The Cyclones are a team built around their defense, but it’s their offense that will decide how successful the 2012 season is.

ISU doesn’t need a win at No. 19 Texas this morning (11 a.m., ABC) or against West Virginia on Nov. 24 to secure bowl eligibility. The contest at Kansas next Saturday should take care of that for the five-win Cyclones.

But this season was never about scraping by with six wins.

It was about taking the next step forward as a program. It was winning seven or more games. It was getting above the three win-mark in Big 12 play.

Both objectives are still attainable. A win over the Longhorns or Mountaineers is required. That occurs only if offense plays to its potential.

The narrative goes that holding opponents to 24 points is the magic number for ISU to get a win. The Cyclones are 20-1 when doing so in the Paul Rhoads era.

But that doesn’t always work in the Big 12. Not against the elite high-powered offenses in the Big 12. Texas and West Virginia both average 40-plus points.

“Gangnam Style” will go out of style before the Longhorns or Mountaineers are limited to 14 points. Heck, holding either squad to a figure in the 30’s is a win for a Big 12 defense.

Scoring at least 30 points is what it will take to defeat the Longhorns or the Mountaineers. Really, scoring 30 points is what it takes for ISU to win.

The Cyclones are 4-0 when topping 30 points. Like the rest of the league, ISU goes as its offense goes. And the 24.4 points the Cyclones average isn’t going to cut it.

Look at the big wins in last two years. Outside of the 9-6 victory over Iowa in September the four other milestone wins involved plenty of ISU fireworks.

Forty-four points against Iowa last season. Forty-one points against Texas Tech last season. Thirty-seven against Oklahoma State last season and TCU this season.

The Cyclones haven’t finished higher than ninth in conference scoring during the Paul Rhoads era. They post a Big 12 victory when the offense overachieves. That’s the way things are going to continue until the offense gets more firepower because there are too many high-scoring teams in the league.

With an opponent like Texas it doesn’t matter what the ISU defense does. If the offense doesn’t find a way to score significantly more than its average it won’t beat the Longhorns. Holding Texas to 35 points won’t mean much if ISU can’t reach 30.

For the Cyclones, the problem is the league is full of offenses just like the Longhorns and the Mountaineers. Sure, having an above-average defense this season is a big plus, but its impact becomes severely limited when the offense doesn’t join the Big 12 scoring revolution.

ISU doesn’t need to average 40 points. But the Cyclones need to be a constant threat to find the end zone. Going quarters at a time without threatening to cross midfield isn’t working.

Until they get there they won’t routinely beat the likes of Texas, West Virginia or anyone ahead of them in the Big 12 pecking order. Without a better offense, ISU will plateau as a team that scratches and claws to become bowl eligible on an annual basis. Six, maybe seven, wins is the ceiling.

Better quarterback play is the easiest way to cross that offensive threshold. But it’s not all on the quarterback. A team that wants to be a run-first squad must be able to establish the run. Receivers must be threats to make big plays every game.

None of it is happening, at least with any consistency.

Everything ISU football wants to do, wants to become, resolves around the offense and the number 30. Twenty-four is held in high esteem in the locker room.

It’s time 30 became the new 24. It’s the key, not only to the end of the season, but for where the program wants to go.

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